Ball
State leads the MIVA in blocking, nabbing 3.28 blocks per set. The Cardinals
are also holding opponents to a league-best .121 hitting percentage.

Kevin
Owens and Matt Leske highlight the Cardinals individually statistically. The
two middle attackers are first and second in the conference in blocks per set
with average of 1.60 and 1.33 blocks per set respectively. Owens has the
second-best hitting percentage in the MIVA at .450, while his counterpart is
seventh with a .367 clip.

Tommy
Rouse, Shane Witmer and Urim Demirovski find themselves in the top 10 in the
digging in the MIVA. Rouse’s average of 2.71 digs per set puts him in third,
whie Witmer’s 2.29 and Demirovski’s 2.00 digs per set average rank them fifth
and eigth. Senior outside attacker Greg Herceg is second in the league in kills
(3.90 kills per set), service aces (0.48 aces per set) and points (4.76 points
per set). Setters Graham McIlvaine and Dan Wichmann have the second and
ninth-best averages in the conference at 11.00 and 5.65 assists per set.

Grand
Canyon is 4-5 on the season and 0-2 in MIVA action, but all five of its losse
have been to teams that were nationally ranked. This past weekend, GCU lost a
pair of matches to defending MIVA champion Lewis, 3-1 and 3-2 respectively. The
‘Lopes are first in the MIVA in assists (12.53 assists per set) and kills
(13.53 kills per set). Grand Canyon’s Christian Ward, Keaton Berry and Ryan
Mather rank third, fourth and fifth in the MIVA in hitting percentage at .409,
.396 and .379 respectively.

The
Cardinals hold the all-time series advantage at 8-1. Last season both team
split the regular season matchups, but Ball State downed Grand Canyon in four
sets in the MIVA Tournament. The Cardinals are 3-0 at home against the ‘Lopes.

Saturday’s
match will start at noon and the match Sunday will get started at 7 p.m. at
Worthen Arena You can follow the team on Twitter at @BallStateMVB or on
Facebook by liking “Ball State Men’s Volleyball”. As always,
ballstatesports.com is the official site for Ball State Athletics.